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Kia ora e te whānau
This is the final Principal Matters for the year and what a year it has been! Principals have fulfilled a vital role in supporting staff, students, and communities to keep safe from COVID, whilst continuing to nurture successful learning progress for the students in their schools.
As principals, you were called to leadership in a time of national and international crisis, and you delivered.
Thank you.
Before we conclude the year, I want to raise some important ‘need to knows’.
Congratulations to NEiTA winners
Congratulations to our very own NZPF Executive member, Leanne Otene, who was honoured on Tuesday in a special ceremony for winning the Outstanding Mentor Award and the NEiTA (National Excellence in Teaching Awards) Founders' Principals Award for Leadership.
This award is highly prestigious and the NZPF whānau are rightly proud of Leanne.
In addition, I want to acknowledge the other outstanding winners for their excellence in education: Chandra Littlewood, Darren Kerr, Erika Jenkins, and Derren Coles.
Legal Opinion Directed Enrolments
For the past two years, a major NZPF lobby has been to establish better support for dysregulated and at-risk young people. Principals are concerned about the lack of options to deal with violent behaviour at school and the unfortunate reality that many young people experiencing trauma are ultimately excluded from school. Such situations often require the Secretary for Education to impose a ‘directed’ enrolment to return an excluded student to school.
It is time principals and the Ministry of Education worked in partnership to stop these damaging exclusions.
It is frequently the case that a ‘directed’ enrolment does not arrive with full disclosure of the child’s history to enable a school to assess needs and agree matched resourcing.
NZPF has sought legal advice to unravel the responsibility between the requirement to comply with a directed enrolment in the Education and Training Act and the expectation for a safe and healthy working environment, as outlined in the Health and Safety in the Workplace Act. Recent legal advice commissioned by NZPF and received from Andrew Butler (Queen’s Counsel) finds that the Health and Safety in the Workplace Act cannot be discounted and that the establishment of ‘rules’ to inform a directed enrolment would substantially assist the Ministry of Education and schools to ensure appropriate and tailored support for dysregulated and at-risk young people.
To this end, I congratulate the Secretary for Education who has written to NZPF outlining her intent to task the 3 regional Te Mahau Hautū (Deputy Secretary’s) to discuss the matters raised in Andrew Butler’s opinion and then work with NZPF to focus on how the Ministry of Education and schools can work together differently to improve outcomes for at risk young people.
This critical work will proceed early in 2022.
Thank You
As I conclude my time as NZPF President, I want to thank you for your extraordinary efforts this past year. I am truly inspired by our principal community and count it as the privilege of a lifetime to have had the opportunity to advocate on your behalf in Wellington.
I want to acknowledge the outstanding NZPF Executive who have worked collaboratively and collectively as a team to advocate for you. I particularly want to thank the leadership, Cherie Taylor-Patel, Julie Hepburn, Karen Brisco and Gavin Beere for their steadfast support and friendship through these challenging times.
I don’t have to tell you to turn off over summer, but the mental pressure of leadership over the past year requires a fulsome response to put your own wellbeing at the fore and rest up.
Finally, I have been offered and accepted a position on the senior leadership team growing principal and school leadership at Tui Tuia | Learning Circle / University of Auckland. I will be making the move to Tāmaki Makaurau in January. I feel privileged to be furthering my work in principal professional development - an area of personal passion and expertise - and I look forward to working more directly with you in the future, in this new role.
Meri Kirihimete! Have a happy Christmas and restful holiday break.
Ko te pae tawhiti, whāia kia tata; ko te pae tata, whakamaua kia tina.
Ngā manaakitanga
Perry Rush
perry@nzpf.ac.nz
2022 NZPF Moot
This is to give early notice to all regional and large cluster presidents, that the NZPF Moot will be held on Friday 18 March 2022, so that you can diary the date now and secure cheaper travel.
The Moot will be one day only and the focus will be on feedback from regional membership. What we look forward to is a robust debate on prominent issues that you raise.
NZ Principal Magazine also Online
You and/or your team members can easily access the NZ Principal Magazines online, as an e-magazine or as a PDF. Additionally you can search for a previous issue, an article by title or by the author of the article. All magazines back to Term 1 2012 are available in this format. To view or search click here.
VLN Primary School - Registrations invited for online programmes for 2022
Extend curriculum choices for your learners and increase your schools confidence and capability in online and distance learning.
A wide range of language programmes available including te reo Māori and Kapa Haka; also Digital Technology, Gifted & Talented, Creative Arts, Science & Maths and Literacy.
Funded Gifted Opportunities (limited placements)
Registrations close Monday 21st February. Classes start the week of 14th March.
Find out more and register your interest online or contact primary@vln.school.nz with queries.
All NZ children are welcome to learn with the VLN Primary - Nau Mai, Haere Mai!
Rachel Whalley, VLN Primary School
Creative Schools: A Blaze of Colour Conference - Registrations Now Open
There is common recognition that nurturing students creativity in their schooling matters - especially within the complex world we find ourselves in. But what does a creative education look like? How do you teach for creativity? And, what role do the arts play within this?
The Centre for Arts and Social Transformation, The University of Auckland (responsible for Te Rito Toi and the Creative Schools Index) warmly invites you to this special conference day for Year 1-8 teachers and senior leaders. We will explore these questions in hands-on sessions led by a range of thinkers, makers and doers including amongst others…
- Renowned drama pedagogue Peter O’Connor sharing his internationally recognised learning experience, A Teaspoon of Light
- Poet Laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh exploring creative ways to write creatively at primary levels
- Head coach Jane Keely from the Sir John Kirwan Foundation taking a Mitey aligned Te Rito Toi lesson - ‘A Little Kindness Goes a Long Way’
Click on the registration link to see the full list of sessions and their faciliators.
We are only taking a maximum of 60 participants, so book fast to avoid missing out!
NZPF assures its business partners that, as members, you will contact them to have a conversation if you are purchasing products, services or solutions for your schools that a business partner supplies. Please support our partners as their assistance to NZPF means better membership services to you.
